Brett’s fine Nick Cave article got me thinking about music and cycling. We spend lots of time alone on our bikes. The bike is on autopilot, it stays upright from second to second, freeing up our brains to consider anything or nothing. Music might be the only riding companion we have but it has to be the right music.
Being as Pro as possible is not necessarily a good thing. Pros tend to blow through all stop signs and they care not a damn about Rule #62. As adamant as I am about sock length and color, I’m more of a hardliner about Rule #62. It is one Rule I have positively never broken, honest Father. Half my friends do though, oh I see them with their wires and ear buds. I get it, I just don’t ever do it. I want to know what’s coming up the road behind me. I also like to hear the world as I ride but I really want to hear that dog or cement mixer before they are right HERE. And I sometimes enjoy the voices in my head. They get me.
Before you go for a long ride, preplan your music, don’t just turn on the car radio as you motor away to meet your riding friends. A moment of inattention and you could be riding three hours with The Carpenters. My wife and I have a pact when riding together. Neither is allowed to sing aloud whatever terrible jingle or 80’s anthem song is plaguing our brains. Sharing such things is not good for a marriage.
It is the early morning riding where my brain is most susceptible to contamination. Wrung out from a night’s sleep, my brain will absorb anything. I have to saturate my brain with good music before something terrible gets in there; once it is in there, it is not coming out without a fight. I had an early morning teeth cleaning and while captive in the chair, their office music programming played nothing but Cher for thirty minutes. Oh I thought it was amusing at the time. The next day, Cher was still there. I was not amused.
Predawn, rolling along in the truck, bike in the back, something great on the stereo, even if the windshield wipers are on, this is how we get up for a ride. There may only be one song in the head for the next three hours but at least if will be a good one.
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@ten B
Yes. This. I started a 14 hour ride once with only the chorus of "One" by U2 in my head and by the end of the ride I'd sorted out all the lyrics. That was the best possible result.
@ten B
That is my greatest fear...a long long ride with the worst kind of fragment of an insipid song with no hope of an eject button. We refer for the need of a "bottle brush" song, as if one was pushing a bottle brush in one ear and it coming out the other. It is a song so shitty it actually replaces the other one in the brain.
@frank
+1
@frank
Note to self: Be very afraid when pre-ride with your VMH. She is a glutton for punishment.
I found it's key to get a good, high bpm ear worm in my head driving on the way to a TT. Seems to help delivering the V on course. So far I've been risking it leaving it to whatever is on the radio.
I should be better organised and make a mixed V tape.
If you want to listen to music on the bike, fine, it's your loss, your funeral but for Gods sake, ok, for MY sake don't put your music on your phone and play it via loud speaker up the climbs. Ye gads! It's one way to run a guys rhythm that is for sure. Fortunately I could out climb the fool, unfortunately it was 12% took some time to get our of ear shot.
@the-farmer
The Big Black EP or the LA glam metal band? I readily endorse the former (and Albini's subsequent output).
I have never ridden with music on outdoors...it just seems dangerous? However, the turbo is an entirely different matter. I spent several months on a turbo rehabbing from an ankle reconstruction and the right music made a huge difference whilst watching a virtual DVD of climbing Ventoux or L'Alpe.
However as has been mentioned different rides or different stages of a ride require different music. Favourites invariably move and change with the times too, but always always always at some point I come back to Fleetwood Mac - The Chain. It is 2mins 55s of prep followed by eyeballs out sprint when that guitar kicks in!
@ten B
I doubt the experience would have been improved by remembering the entire song.
@pistard they are from the 80's Paul Gilbert is the guitarist, god knows how I found them, I think I was googling guitar music, love a good riff but I can't play music, found them and Dokken! Mr Scary has ace guitar on it.